While opinions of the current job market have improved from the last several months, more Americans than ever expect a higher unemployment rate a year from now.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 43% of American Adults believe unemployment will be higher in a year's time, up 13 points from October
and the highest level of pessimism measured in several years. Thirty percent (30%) expect unemployment to be lower a year from now, while 23% think it will be about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on December 1-2, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection,
publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events
in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence,
we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions,
sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics
provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day.
If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a
daily update newsletter and various media outlets
across the country.